Category: APPETIZERS

Sweet and Sour “Pork” Fried Cauliflower Rice and Edamame Hummus with Crudites as a snack.

I decided to vegetarian all this week and create a healthy alternative to some of my favorite dishes. Eating healthy isn’t expensive or what I call the 3 B’s, bland, boring or a budget buster.

For the Sweet and Sour “Pork” Fried Cauliflower Rice, I toasted some sesame seeds along with sauteing some eggs and veggies to go into my cauliflower rice that I got for a reduced price for $1.79 at Kroger. I used Gardein meat free porkless bites as my source of “meat” that was on sale for $3.99. Talking about delicious! This rice dish tastes just like takeout. You don’t miss the meat or the white rice. It is the perfect carb friendly dish for diabetics. I was able to make 2 servings which cost less than $5.00 per serving.

I knew I would need a healthy snack that would help me get through the rest of my day and keep my numbers steady. I ventured out and made my own edamame hummus. I love hummus! I paired it along with a few of my favorite crudites to make it more antioxidant, vitamin and carb friendly. Also, you can toast and season whole wheat pita bread as another option for dipping.

Edamame beans are a great source of a complete protein and fiber for it has all of your essential amino acids. Protein and fiber helps keep you feeling fuller and will stop your blood sugar from spiking.

I even saved some money by purchasing hulled sesame seeds at Whole Foods in which I toasted and blended in EVOO for $0.64 rather than buying tahini for $6-8. Delicious and winning! My vegetarian week is off to a good start. This vegetarian dish serves as a great snack or appetizer at your next party or gathering.

I hope you made some great choices today in brown bagging your lunch or finding a healthier option on the menu. Remember to lunch right with every bite!

DIRECTIONS:
•Preheat oven 400°
•Puncture sweet potatoes in several places.
•Wrap each in aluminum foil and place it on a baking sheet.
•Bake 40-50 mins until fork tender.
•In a sauté pan, add ground turkey, corn, garlic and seasonings.
•Cook until done. Remove from heat and let it cool.
•Once the potatoes are soft to the touch, remove from the oven and let cool.
•Once cool, split the potatoes length wise in half.
•Scoop out the center of each half leaving some of the flesh.
•Fold in the potato with your turkey mixture.
•Season to taste with kosher salt.
•Place the mixture back into the skins.
•Sprinkle cheese on top of each potato.
•Place it back into the oven for 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
•Remove from the oven.
•Place the skins on a serving platter.
•Garnish with sour cream, dried parsley flakes, fresh cilantro leaves and jalapeños.
•Enjoy!

It’s what for dinner: Basil Pesto Chicken, Mushroom and Sundried Tomato Flatbread Pizza and a simple side green garden salad

I decided to forego meal prepping this week, so I could try creating some new recipes. A friend of mine gave me some fresh basil and other herbs out of her garden.

I wanted to create a less fattening basil pesto sauce, so I eliminated the pine nuts that are usually found within the sauce. I thought I had some sundried tomatoes in the fridge, but they expired so I had to substitute Roma tomatoes tonight. I prefer sundried tomatoes with this recipe, but the regular tomatoes were ok.

This was my first time trying out the flatout ‪‎ artisan thin rosemary and olive oil flatbread pizza crust and it was delicious. Only 120 cals, 22g carbs, 2 sugars, 240mg sodium, and 1g of fat for one crust.

The possibilities are endless on the different types of healthy pizza and toppings you can use and create using this thin flatbread pizza crust. If pesto isn’t your thing, simple olive oil, garlic and basil makes a great sauce or create your own healthy marinara pizza sauce.

Other ways to use the basil pesto sauce: Over chicken breasts, basil pesto chicken wrap, over zucchini noodles or in other shrimp or chicken whole wheat pasta dishes.

Superbowl Sunday is one of the biggest and most celebrated events in the US. Millions of people gather around the television with food and libations to watch the commercials, halftime show, and the best two teams of the NFL go head to head for the national championship title.

Unless you are a true fan of the sport or your team is playing in the Superbowl, it’s really all about the food and the fellowship. Traditional party food for gatherings such as this is loaded with high amounts of calories, carbs, fats, sodium, and sugars.

This year, I decided to throw a small Superbowl gathering amongst four friends and go beyond making the traditional calorie laden foods by creating healthier options using some of the fantastic food finds found in the Kroger’s Simple Truth Brand.

Simple Truth has a variety of snack options and natural antibiotic free and organic meats that are nutrition friendly.

Eating traditional superbowl party food could easily add up to 4,000 calories or more for one meal/sitting which is beyond the FDA’s recommended daily value 2,000 calorie diet. Our recommendations if all is selected and eaten according to the serving size is less than 1,700 calories which isn’t too bad since this is a special occasion and you have a variety of snacks and foods to choose from. If diabetic, the brown rice spaghetti won’t spike your blood sugar up unlike semolina based pasta and our lettuce wraps are a perfect substitution for bread. It is also is gluten free for gluten sensitive readers.

Each Simple Truth snack item was less than 150 calories, 20 carbs, 150mg of sodium, 8g of fat, and 9 sugars per serving and the laughing cow cheese was only 35 calories, 1.5g of fat, 190mg of sodium and less than 1g of sugar for one serving.

Superbowl Sunday can be a fun filled gathering with simple and delicious guilt free food without blowing all of your hard work from eating healthy during the week. Look for our chicken salad and pasta salad recipe under our appetizers, soups and salads, vegetarian menu or click on the above links.

These snack items and appetizers can be prepared for any party, potluck, holiday gathering or as a part of your weekly meal calendar for lunch or as a quick and healthy snack. We hope you will like our appetizers and decide to give them and our fantastic food finds a try. You won’t regret the calories nor the taste.